Sodium Compounds Codexery

Sodium silicate

A versatile compound used in adhesives, coatings, water treatment, and refractories.

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Sodium silicates appear as either colorless glassy or crystalline solids, or alternatively as white powders, and most grades dissolve readily in water to form alkaline solutions, with the exception of those highest in silicon content.[1] The SiO₂:Na₂O weight ratio defines industrial grades of sodium silicate, and this ratio spans from 1:2 up to 3.75:1.[2]

Quick Facts

Common name
  • Waterglass
  • water glass
  • liquid glass
Appearance
  • Colorless glassy or crystalline solids
  • white powders
  • or greenish/blue solutions
Maximum temperature resistance
Up to 1100 °C

Facts from the source article.

Key facts and history

European alchemists observed soluble alkali silicates in the 16th century, with Giambattista della Porta noting in 1567 that cream of tartar lowered quartz's melting point.[3] Around 1640, Jan Baptist van Helmont reported forming alkali silicates by melting sand with excess alkali and precipitating silica with acid.[4] In 1646, Glauber made potassium silicate by melting potassium carbonate with sand, calling the resulting viscous liquid "Oleum oder Liquor Silicum"[5] In 1990, 4 million tons of alkali metal silicates were produced globally.[2]

Sodium silicate can be produced by dissolving silica in molten sodium carbonate or from sodium sulfate with carbon as a reducing agent.[6] It may also be produced as a byproduct of hydrogen generation when ferrosilicon dissolves in aqueous sodium hydroxide.[7] A water-soluble silicate that remained stable in air was created in 1818 by Johann Nepomuk von Fuchs through the reaction of silicic acid with an alkali.[8] Leopold Wolff in 1846, Émile Kopp in 1857, and Hermann Krätzer in 1887 each employed the designations "water glass" and "soluble glass".[9]

What the cited sources add

Burch's dyeing guide explains that sodium silicate serves solely to increase pH, acting as a substitute for soda ash or trisodium phosphate when fixing fiber reactive dyes.[10] The same source notes that a 40% sodium silicate solution has a pH between 11 and 12.5, and that the product "Engine Stopper" is the same solution used for destroying car engines.[10] Burch warns that acidic solutions can turn sodium silicate into a gel that is extremely difficult to remove, and that dried sodium silicate cannot be removed from glass.[10] An experiment detailed in the cited source showed that eggs fully immersed in a mixture of 9 parts water to 1 part sodium silicate kept better than any other room-temperature preservation method tested.[11]

The Open Library record for ISBN 9780387324685 lists the "Encyclopedia of Microfluidics and Nanofluidics" as a 2600-page work published by Springer in April 2008.[12]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Sodium silicate" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The OxyChem Sodium Silicate Handbook", 2019 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Sodium silicate" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gerard Lagaly, Werner Tufar, A. Minihan, A. Lovell "Silicates" in Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, Wiley-VCH, 2005. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Sodium silicate" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: della Porta, "Magia naturalis sive de miraculis rerum naturalium, libri iiii", Guillaume Rouillé (Gulielmum Rovillium), 1569, p. 290–291; Kohn, "Die Erfindung des Wasserglas im Jahre 1520", Zeitschrift des Österreichischen Ingenieur-Vereines, 1862, p. 229–230 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Sodium silicate" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: van Helmont, "Opuscula medica inaudita", Jost Kalckhoven (Jodocum Kalcoven), 1644, p. 53 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Sodium silicate" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Glauber, "Furni Novi Philosophici", Johann Fabel, 1647, p. 136–137; (Glauber, 1647), p. 138 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Sodium silicate" (CC BY-SA 4.0) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Sodium silicate" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Brack, "An old solution to a new problem? Hydrogen generation by the reaction of ferrosilicon with aqueous sodium hydroxide solutions", Energy Science & Engineering, November 2015, p. 535–540 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Sodium silicate" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Anon., "Die angebliche Erfindung des Wasserglases im Jahre 1520", Neues Repertorium für Pharmacie, 1863, p. 271–273; Nepomuk Fuchs, "Ueber ein neues Produkt aus Kieselerde und Kali; und dessen nüzliche Anwendung als Schuzmittel gegen schnelle Verbreitung des Feuers in Theatern, als Bindemittel, firnißartigen Anstrichen u.s.w.", Polytec (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Sodium silicate" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Wolff, "Das Wasserglas: Seine Darstellung, Eigenschaften und seine mannichfache Anwendung in den technischen Gewerben", Gottfried Basse, 1846; Emile Kopp (1857): "Sur la préparation et les propriétés du verre soluble ou des silicates de potasse et de soude; analyse de tous les travaux publiés jusqu'a c; Krätzer, "Wasserglas und Infusorienerde, deren Natur und Bedeutung für Industrie, Technik und die Gewerbe", Hartleben, 1887 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Burch, "Sodium silicate as a fixative for dyeing", March 22, 2010. facts only, no text reused. pburch.net
  11. How To Store Fresh Eggs. motherearthnews.com. facts only, no text reused. motherearthnews.com
  12. Open Library record, ISBN 9780387324685 ("Encyclopedia of Microfluidics and Nanofluidics"). CC0 (metadata); book content not read. openlibrary.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Sodium silicate (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

More in Sodium Compounds

Sodium sulfateSodium sulfideSodium thiosulfateSodium chlorideSodium chlorateSodium fluorideSodium chloriteSodium metabisulfiteTrisodium phosphateSodium hexametaphosphateSodium bisulfateSodium amide

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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